Study Suggests Biological Aging Could Mess With Your Mood—Here's How
Key takeaways
- Author: Sarah Regan June 16, 2026mbg Spirituality & Relationships Editor By Sarah Reganmbg Spirituality & Relationships Editor Sarah Regan is a Spirituality & Relationships Editor, and a registered yoga instructor.
- For this study, researchers wanted to look for a biomarker for depression in the blood.
- The women (261 with HIV and 179 without) had taken part in the Women's Interagency HIV Study.
Why this matters: practical guidance grounded in recent research or expert insight.
Author: Sarah Regan June 16, 2026mbg Spirituality & Relationships Editor By Sarah Reganmbg Spirituality & Relationships Editor Sarah Regan is a Spirituality & Relationships Editor, and a registered yoga instructor. She received her bachelor's in broadcasting and mass communication from SUNY Oswego, and lives in Buffalo, New York.Image by SERGEY FILIMONOV / Stocksy June 16, 2026When you think about the symptoms of depression, you probably think low mood, fatigue, loss of appetite and so on—but what if there was a biological marker to flag depression? According to new research published in The Journals of Gerontology1, there just might be. Here's what they found.
For this study, researchers wanted to look for a biomarker for depression in the blood. Given that depression is more common amongst those with autoimmune conditions, they used a sample of women with and without HIV, one of the most common secondary immunodeficiency diseases.
The women (261 with HIV and 179 without) had taken part in the Women's Interagency HIV Study. Their depression levels were measured using the Center for Epidemiologic Studies Depression Scale (CES-D), and blood tests were taken to measure the biological aging of white blood cells.